This invention relates to the field of racks for mounting into the box of a pickup truck and in particular to a modular rack for holding a plurality of motorcycles and the like upright on the bed of a pickup truck box.
In the prior art, applicant is aware of numerous attempts to mount racks such as bicycle racks into pickup trucks. The racks may be categorized generally by their method of attachment to the pickup truck. Thus, a first category of rack includes U.S. Pat. No. 5,427,286 which issued to Hagerty on Jun. 27, 1995, and discloses a bicycle rack which bolts onto the front wall of the bed of a pickup truck. A second category of bike racks which mount into the bed of a pickup truck for example by being bolted to the floor include U.S. Pat. No. 4,437,597 which issued to Doyle on Mar. 20, 1984 for a Mounting Apparatus for a Dirt Bike, U.S. Pat. No. 5,476,200 which issued to Wong on Dec. 19, 1995 for a Pick-up Truck Bicycle Rack, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,516,020 which issued to Lawler et al. on May 14, 1996 for a Truck Mount Bicycle Rack. The third category, and the category which most closely applies to the present invention, includes racks which are mountable into a pickup truck box by the mounting of stakes or posts on opposite ends of the rack into oppositely disposed holes in the upper side rails of the pickup truck box. This category is exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 5,092,504 which issued to Hannes et al. on Mar. 3, 1992 for a Bicycle Rack for Pick up Truck, U.S. Pat. No. 5,127,564 which issued to Romero on Jul. 7, 1992 for a Bicycle Holder for Pickup Truck, U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,472 which issued to Miller on Mar. 18, 1997 for a Bicycle Rack for Pick-up Trucks, U.S. Pat. No. 5,699,945 which issued to Micklish on Dec. 23, 1997 for a Side Rail Mounted Bicycle Rack for Pickup Trucks, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,179,181 which issued to Johnson et al. on Jan. 30, 2001 for a Bike Transport Rack.
The prior art identifies the problem of moving dirt bikes, motorcycles, motorbikes, motor scooters and the like to remote locations where they may be used to ride trails or otherwise participate in motor sport activities. In so much as dirt bikes, mountain bikes and the like represent a significant investment; it is clearly advantageous to protect them from lateral and longitudinal movement within the box of a pickup truck so as to avoid damage. It is thus an object of the present invention to provide for the rigid releasable mounting of dirt bikes, mountain bikes and the like into a rack which may be secured into the box of a pickup truck so as to provide for secure and releasable locking of a plurality of bikes into the rack and in one embodiment to also provide for the carrying of ancillary equipment such as helmets and body armour.
The present invention is a rack for mounting to a vehicle. The rack includes horizontal upper and lower cross members. A pair of downwardly disposed mounting posts are mounted on opposite ends of the upper cross member. Where the truck is a pickup truck having a cargo box, the posts fit downwardly into the post holes in the side walls of the pickup truck box. At least one wheel clamp assembly is mounted, at it""s an upper end, to the upper cross member and mounted at its lower end to the lower cross member. Each wheel clamp assembly includes first and second opposed facing parallel vertical clamp members defining a wheel receiving space therebetween sized for snug mating on either side of a wheel disposed between the clamp members and the cross members. The clamp members each have laterally aligned apertures therethrough. The apertures are sized and positioned to accommodate a lock bar of a lock, such as a U-shaped lock, journalled therethrough so that the lock bar may be inserted through the spokes of the wheel and so that a U-shaped hasp of the lock may be positioned over upper ends of the clamp members into locking engagement with the lock bar journalled through the apertures. The wheel is thereby releasably locked between the clamp members.
In one embodiment at least one stabilizer bar is mounted to the lower cross member so as to extend forwardly and rigidly for bracing of the lower cross member against the vehicle, for example a forward wall of the pickup truck box when the mounting posts are mounted in the post holes of the box side walls. The mounting posts may be telescopically mounted to the ends of the upper cross member for lateral telescopic adjustment of a lateral spacing between the mounting posts.
The apertures in the clamp members may be elongate vertical slots.
The clamp members may have opposite forward and rear faces. The rear faces may be mounted to the cross members. The forward faces may be canted into the wheel receiving space so as to define a convergent entryway into the wheel receiving space for assisting entry of a wheel between the clamp members.
The clamp members may have bearing faces between their corresponding forward and rear faces. The bearing faces extend in parallel spaced apart array on opposite sides of the wheel receiving space. The slots are formed in the bearing faces and may extend vertically substantially the length of the bearing faces.
The rack may include a pair of the wheel clamp assemblies mounted to the cross members at opposite ends of the cross members so as to leave a utility spacing therebetween along the cross members. A variety of utility implements or attachments may be mounted, for example releasably or modularly, into the utility space on the cross members. One such attachment may be a modularly mountable third wheel clamp assembly releasably mountable to the cross members in the utility spacing. Another attachment may be a modularly mountable utility container releasably mountable to the cross members in the utility spacing.